Utley Opens Up in Philly Mag Article

It’s a side of Chase Utley we very rarely get to see. The side where he talks of his love of animals, where he grew up, what he is like when he’s not focused on baseball.

Utley opened up in an interview with Philadelphia Magazine for their April edition. The article takes a peek at Utley’s life inside and outside the game, plus the decision to take his knee rehab to Arizona, a move that may have saved his career. Here are a few excerpts:

The time his wife Jen asked him about his knees derailing his career:

He’s a guy so consumed by playing that when his wife, Jen, asked him if he was worried that his troubled knees were putting his career in jeopardy, he just looked at her silently. “I got a death glare—a murderous glare,” she says. “I don’t want to see that again.”

Utley’s new routine:

His morning workouts, about five days a week, involve a whole range of stuff, he says. “What I’ve been doing has evolved over the past year and a half, trying to find something that works for me. … ” With that, Chase is off, into the physiological obsession that the lives of athletes—especially injured athletes—become.

There’s an immediate surprise, though: Chase is easy and pleasant. Many opposing players and some sportswriters characterize him as sullen and difficult, which Jen—that death glare notwithstanding—finds amusing. “He’s the least moody person I’ve ever met,” she says. “He’s always in a good mood.”

These days, there’s a reason to be. Chase says he feels better than he has in years, thanks to that new workout plan.

Chase as a kid:

A “dorky-punk” guy, his sister Taylor remembers, whose first car in high school was a ’69 Volkswagen Squareback. He proceeded to get it lowered and put two 12-inch woofers in so he could blast Dr. Dre and Tupac and the Dove Shack’s “Summertime in the LBC” all over Long Beach on his way to school in the morning. The low-key silent guy who didn’t give a fu*k, which is his favorite word. Maybe that explains the soul patch.